Super Bowl bound! 4-12? Shit, who am I kidding. I have no clue how this season turns out. Despite the naysayers and those that laugh and predict doom for jettisoning St. Jim the Wolverine, the team still has talent and the offense will hopefully move out of the 70s.
The defense? Well, shit should be fine, if not a little thin in the defensive backfield. Which leads me to believe we will be a little more aggressive with the pass rush. Ahmad Brooks still remains a 49er, albeit that depends on the charges brought forth by the woman who brought down RayMac. Cutting him at this point would only save $1.5 mill against the cap, so he’ll probably stick around if these charges go away.
If anything, both Ahmad Brooks, and his bookend OLB Aldon Smith have a lot to prove with their recent travails and issues. The defensive line should still be fairly stout as Justin Smith hasn’t been himself the last couple years, and the rest of the crew, plus Darnell Dockett should be good to go. These OLBs (Lunch included) can wreak some havoc if the D line takes care of business. Eli Harold has been seen as a high-value pick where we got him. Arik Armstead? He’s got the ‘potential’ tag laid all over him. The positive being Jim Tomsula has done very well as a D line coach with a lot less than AA.
Inside LB? Well, there’s the rub. Bowman is by all intents coming along just fine, but his injury was horrific and he is a question. Wilhoite has shown decent game, but his ceiling isn’t very high. Moody and the rest? Ehh. Have to wonder if someone will fall off a team after cut-down time.
The secondary is thin as well. Even with the signing of Jaquaski Tartt, heir apparent to Antoine Bethea. The only question is when. The corners were left thin by the Cully and COX departures, but Brock should be healthy. Johnson came on very well last year, but he’s a question as a starter and Shareece Wright isn’t all that. They did sign UDFA Mylan Hicks (Mich St) to a 3 year deal so they see something there.
As far as the coaches go, they have a lot of guys with a lot of time in the game. What does it mean? Little to nothing in itself, but Mangini is on the right side of the line now at least.
Forty Niners Forever 
Hunter, Hyde, and Bush are going to get most of the work, but I think they can get Davis up to speed. Something lacking with this team. Speed. I’m more interested in how Torrey Smith does. Getting a deep threat is a welcome addition.
75 days until the start of the regular season
Bullit is ragging on Winder for being a homer as the beat barely goes on ……..on the other blog. Go Winder! Stomp on those guys good!
Irony. Bullitt calling someone else a Homer lol
Lol
A Michigan football player says harbaugh and a dozen members of his staff told him they want him to “retire” from college . they took paperwork to him to get him to sign.
Perhaps he can drive the player to a nearby Walmart and pick-up some Khaki pants and get him into coaching instead.
Yeah, that’s Jim being Jim. Just trying to free up a scholarship at the cost of some kids dream.
The best part is the kid can transfer out to any school . why do they have to make the kid quit .
Yeah, forget the torn ACL, arthritis in his knee and the two concussions, all by age 22. Forget that by signing the form, Pipkins stays on a full four year scholarship, which would allow his way to be paid all the way to a bachelor’s. Harbaugh’s just an ass. Yeah right.
Did I forget to mention that the surgeon who repaired the ACL just recommended rest for the knee for six months? Oh yeah, Harbaugh’s an ass. I forgot.
(He was recently seen by his surgeon in response to the team doctors finding the arthritis in his knee. But screw the kid being able to walk at age 25. NCAA football rules! Harbaugh’s an ass.)
RT nice to see you’ve found your way back to the dark side
Good to have you back with us.
Good to hear from you, Rob! I haven’t left. I post on both blogs when there’s anything to post about, which there isn’t now. I made my prediction of 5-11 and now we wait for the season to commence.
Last time I checked Jim Harbaugh wasn’t a doctor. The knee injury happened in 2013 by the way.
It was Harbaugh and the coaches begging him to quit, not the doctors. The doctors cleared him to play, and then at the behest of the coaching staff, changed their story.
Pipkins said doctors initially told him he has some arthritis in the knee but that he should not be disqualified from competition. But as pressure continued from others within the program to sign the medical form, he was sent by Michigan back to his knee surgeon, who then recommended he rest his body for six months.
“Others within the organization” being coaches, not the medical staff.
This article has more info about how the football program, not the doctors, begged him to retire.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/13154115/ondre-pipkins-says-michigan-wolverines-coach-jim-harbaugh-staff-pressured-quit
My point being Harbaugh isn’t looking out for the welfare of Pipkins, he wants another scholarship to throw at someone.
It would be hard for me to believe Harbaugh would not look out for the health of the kid. He probably did want another scholarship freed up but I doubt he was throwing the kid under the bus. Kudos to the kid for just wanting to play. He’ll probably be a coach some day.
Absolutely Harbs wants the scholarship freed up, Reno – no argument there. You should be aware what arthritis in a rebuilt knee at his age means – the beginning of complete deterioration. His surgeon recommended six months rest. That precludes the season. The kid can still get paid to graduate. There is no abuse of the NCAA medical scholarship rule here; Harbs is looking out for the kid in a way that best benefits all concerned.
Chuck apparently thinks the coaching staff have no eyes or ears and didn’t think anything was wrong. They just wanted the kid’s knee re-examined to get him off the team. Although that begs the question of why they were right, there’s arthritis in the knee.
Unless Chuck is now suggesting that the surgeon is on the take and would risk his medical license to practice, not to mention his freedom and a couple million bucks, to say what Harbs wants.
The player says he feels fine and might decide to transfer out instead of “retiring.” Maybe harbaugh and company should at least refrain from waving papers in the kids face until he can make a decision.
If the kid if such an idiot that he wants to be a kneeless gimp at a very young age, that should be his choice so long as he pays for it all. Who said he “waved papers in the kids (sic) face?” – just a bit of media hyperbole perhaps?
3-4 members of the coaching staff talked to him numerous times about retiring. RTF. During charity events even. After the medical staff cleared him to play. Did you read the second article? The AD of Michigan told him to retire. It was the coaching staff and the administration, not have doctors.
Gore had 3 surgeries in college. Plenty of players come back from knee injuries.
Arthritis is an entirely different condition. I don’t believe arthritis can be fixed by surgery. The medical staff found arthritis. So did the surgeon. What did his surgeon recommend? Yeah, let’s just blow off the guy who rebuilt the knee. That’s smart. Not.
“Defensive lineman Ondre Pipkins told ESPN that Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, head athletic trainer Paul Schmidt and associate athletic director Jim Minick asked Pipkins about 10 times over a two-month period to sign a medical scholarship form that would have ended his career with the Wolverines before he wanted it to end.”
So the people in charge, in response to the surgeon’s assessment, pressured the kid to show half a brain? It seems the kid doesn’t want to concede an inch and have the slightest bit of gray matter in his skull – must be the two concussions.
I suppose if he keeps on playing college football, accelerates the degeneration of his knee, and doesn’t graduate, he can get a wheelchair job as a customer service rep for Dish – just so long as he doesn’t need medical marijuana. Being a CSR for Dish doesn’t require any intelligence – in fact I think it’s a liability – and would allow him to work from the wheelchair he’d be headed to.
BULLSHIT is a smelly condition.
Sir Spit is full of his usual condition of total BULLSHIT! Full of it 24/7!
It is getting pretty deep.
They don’t clean the streets in Geneoushire. Boots must cover to the knees. Squish!
Meanwhile on the Depression Blog, the downers are expecting the 49ers to fall into perpetual mediocrity. The moaning and groaning over there can rival a full blown wake. Imagine grown men weeping!
Funny, for all Harbaugh’s success, I’ve won just as many national chsmpionships and Super Bowls as St. Jim.
And I’m supposed to let go his foibles?
i’m putting Harbaugh in my rear view mirror for good, sick of hearing his name anymore. I don’t even give a shit if he wins in Michigan. The whole thing has been way to much bullshit.
B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T